This Means War
by Amber Dread
Summary: Reylo: After a bad break up, Rey moves into a new flat. All her new neighbours seem lovely, apart from the grumpy guy next door, who always dresses in black and seems to only be there to annoy her... Crack, fluff, pranks, awkward Kylo Ren COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: This Means War**

**TW: Themes of sexual assault (Not by Kylo) it doesn't get too far though.**

**'~*~'**

**'**

"So what's the deal with the guy next door to me?" Rey asked as she leaned back in her chair and tucked her legs up underneath her.

Finn and Poe, the guys who lived on the other side of her new flat, both looked at each other then rolled their eyes in unison.

"No idea exactly, other than he is a really moody git," Poe answered as he poured Rey some more wine.

Finn shrugged and nodded, "He was here before we moved in, everyone else in the building is lovely though."

Rey returned their smiles. It had been a difficult few months for her, she had broken up with her boyfriend because he had cheated on her… for the _second_ time, _and_ become quite nasty, violent even. She had been the one who had to move out of their flat, as he refused to. She'd sofa surfed at a friend's home until she could get the cash together for a deposit, because her ex had refused to give her back the money she had put down on their flat. Bastard.

Looking at the silver lining though, the building she had moved into was sunny and bright, the other residents were friendly (excluding one), and she had a balcony where she could grow a few plants and sunbathe. And she still had her job, which she loved.

Rey had already warmed to Finn and Poe, they had been the first to welcome her, even helping her carry her few belongings up from the van she had hired when she moved, and had then invited her to dinner once she had got everything into her new place.

It had all seemed to be perfect, life had finally appeared to have given her a much needed break… until that is, she had discovered that her other nextdoor neighbour liked to play heavy metal music loudly at 3am.

At first Rey had figured it was a one off, pulling a pillow over her head and trying to ignore it. But after three consecutive nights of loud music that seemed to be aimed specifically against the wall her bed was next to, she had got up, pulled a dressing gown on, and gone to knock on their door.

It was answered (eventually) by a hulking guy dressed all in black who glared at her as if knocking on his door was some kind of personal insult.

Rey had mustered a smile and asked him politely to please turn down his music or put headphones on. He'd shot a smirk at her, told her no, and shut the door in her face.

'

Over the next week, it became apparent that the man was hell-bent on annoying her. Rey had invested in some earplugs, she didn't like sleeping with them in as not being able to hear properly made her sleep lightly, but it beat not sleeping at all.

She eventually swapped her bedroom around with her living room, it wasn't very practical but it solved the noise problem, and she had started sleeping normally again. The morning after she has swapped the rooms around, as she was hoovering the room that was now her living room, someone banged loudly on her door.

She answered, assuming it must be the postman, but she was met by her problem neighbour, "What kind of person vacuums at 8am? Can't you do that later?" He growled at her. His hair was tousled and he had the look of someone wrenched from a deep sleep.

Rey blinked at him in surprise, then a rebellious part of her remembered his smirk from their first encounter and she gave him one of her own, "No," she said and shut the door in his face. Karma could be such a bitch.

'

Rey had thought, (perhaps rather naïvely), that would make him think back over his actions and change his ways. Unfortunately for her, her neighbour took it as a skirmish and retaliated by constantly shoving junk mail through her letter box. He seemed to think that that would annoy her, but the inconvenience was so minor that Rey couldn't be bothered to be irritated by it.

After a few weeks of that, and of Rey failing to berate him about it, he seemed to give up.

'

Rey hadn't thought about him in several weeks, when their paths crossed again. She had had a long day at the garage, managed to spill tea all over herself, walked into a door and then stupidly answered a phone call from her ex. She was tired, scalded, bruised and very, very grumpy. So when she entered the lobby of her building to see her neighbour a few paces ahead of her, she called for him to hold the lift.

He lengthened his stride, got in well before her, and closed the doors straight away, treating her to a smug smirk as he disappeared from view.

Rey was not currently feeling very rational, and this, on top of everything else, sent her off the deep end… _THIS MEANS WAR._

_'_

Rey waited till 11pm, then went outside to the building's car park, located his car and undid one of the front tyre valves, shoved a grain of rice in it, and did it back up. This would cause the tyre to repeatedly deflate, no matter how much he pumped it up, he would either have to find the rice or get a new tyre, and because she wasn't actually doing any damage, it wasn't an actual crime.

'

A few days later, after she had just got home and was trying to decide what to make for dinner, there was a loud banging on her front door. There was only one person who did that.

Rey pasted a friendly, innocent expression on her face before answering it.

"What the fuck did you do to my car?" he asked without preamble.

Rey raised an eyebrow and folded her arms, "Do? Why, is there something wrong with it?"

He practically snarled and Rey had to fight the smirk that threatened to reveal itself.

"You've done something, the fucking tyre keeps going down, I know it was you, and you better fix it. _Now._"

"I don't know what you are talking about. If you think something is wrong with it, you should take it to a garage."

He glared at her, taking in her dirty, oil covered jeans and t shirt, "You're a mechanic, so you can look at it."

Rey tilted her head, "I can, but I won't. I only do favours for friends or people who ask me nicely." And she shut the door once again in his furious face.

That evening Rey indulged in a glass of wine with dinner.

'

He took to smoking every time she put washing out, blowing streamers of smoke directly at her racks of freshly clean clothes.

Rey brushed that one off- her ex had smoked, and while she didn't like it, being on the top floor meant that there was usually a bit of breeze which lessened the effect.

It was the weekend when he took it to the next level. Rey had put down a mat and was sunbathing, she'd finished all her chores that morning, was going to dinner at Finn and Poe's later and she had nothing to do but lie in the sun, letting it soak into her skin. It was utter bliss.

She had her headphones on, listening to Coheed and Cambria, so any noise from her neighbours wouldn't intrude on her little bubble of calm.

Then something smacked into her back, exploding to cover her in cold water. Rey squealed, ripping her headphones out of her ears as she sprang to her feet.

She turned to find _him_ and a friend grinning at her like children, "Oh! _Sorry,_ we were having a water fight and got carried away," her neighbour told her.

Rey pushed her anger down as best she could, "Then maybe you should play downstairs with the other children," she told him icily, picked up her mat and went inside.

'

Rey got dressed and made brownies to take round to Finn and Poe's later. While she baked, she considered her next move, but she didn't come to any concrete conclusions before she went next door for dinner.

It was a warm evening and they ate out on the balcony, watching as the sun sunk into the horizon, painting the clear sky pink and orange.

Finn had made what he called an 'Anything' cocktail, which as the name suggests, contained anything he felt like or that needed using up.

They tended to be hit and miss but this one he had got spot on, and they got through two jugs of it before calling it an evening.

By the time Rey left, she was happy and cheerful and more than drunk. So at first, when her doorknob didn't seem to turn, she giggled a bit, assuming she was too drunk to make it turn and tried again. After several more tries however, she inspected her hand to find it covered in some kind of cooking oil. That little… well, massive, shit.

Rey walked (not quite straight) to her neighbours and banged on his door. There was no answer, but she could hear music coming from inside, so she banged again. He opened the door with that infuriating smirk on his face.

"You!" she accused, then wiped her oily hands on the front of his t-shirt, "You are a massive land based tool!" He grinned at her, and her stupid intoxicated heart did a little skip.

"Are you drunk?"

Rey poked him hard in the chest with her index finger, "_Maybe. _That is not the point! You either clean my door, or I am sleeping on your sofa!"

He shrugged and stood to the side, opening the door wider, Rey frowned at him, and he gestured down his hall, "Come in, then."

Rey blinked, "What?"

"You said you were going to sleep on my sofa."

"I didn't mean..!" Then Rey had what her muddled brain thought was a good idea. "_Fine_," she said and stepped past him, weaving her way down the hall and into the living room.

There were some other guys on the sofa, they possibly said something but Rey went straight out of the back door onto the balcony, stood on a chair and started to climb over the glass and metal barrier that separated her balcony from his.

She had got half way when someone yelled "_Shit!_" and strong hands manhandled her back on to the side that wasn't hers.

Rey wriggled in their grasp, "Do you have a fucking death wish?" They asked as they set her feet on the floor but kept hold of her.

"I was fine, let me go! Look - my window is open," she gestured vaguely at her balcony.

"You are drunk, there is no way I am letting you climb over that!" The hands on her were large and very warm.

Rey turned in their grasp so she could glare at whomever it was that was holding on to her, it was her douchey neighbour... he really was huge.

She poked him hard in the chest again, "Take your hands off me, you giant shit biscuit!"

He merely smirked, so Rey punched him in the stomach and stamped down on his instep.

Before he could recover she was over the partition, her window wasn't open but she had her back door key with her and tried using that.

"Jesus, woman, you are crazy!" Came an indignant call as she finally fit the key in the lock and opened the door.

"And you're a muscle bound cretin," Rey answered as she almost fell through the door.

'

The next morning when Rey surfaced, she decided she needed to up her game and settled on a 'Shock and Awe' approach.

After showering and cleaning the oil off her doorknob, she went out to the shops, got a bottle with a spray nozzle on it and some fish she found in the reduced aisle.

When she got home, she left the fish in its unopened wrapper on her window sill, in the full sun and filled the bottle with water and bleach.

It appeared to be her lucky day as there was washing out on the shit biscuit's balcony and everything he owned seemed to be black…

Rey checked to make sure he wasn't looking out of his window, then switched the nozzle to squirt rather than spray and made sure she hit every item of clothing he had at least once, not too much, but so everything would have marks of discolouration.

She went inside and ordered him a lot of catalogues, then ordered two pizzas, coke, wings and a tub of ice cream to be sent to his flat. Then she locked up and went out for the day.

When she got home, she found a note on her doormat, written in a surprisingly delicate script,

_**Thanks for the pizza, it was just what we needed!**_

Rey swore to herself until her eyes fell on the fish still sweating on her window sill, then she smiled. Once again she waited till it was late, then crept down to the car park and put the fish under the bonnet of his car, in the aircon.

The next day, she rang his doorbell, as she left for work at 7.30am.

Rey had had another gruelling day, so on the way home she had picked up some chinese. As she opened her front door she trod on something and looked down to see what at first glance, looked like a snake.

She yelled and jumped backwards, almost spilling her food, before she realised that it was just a rubber toy.

Rey flushed, anger and embarrassment warring for dominance, but her body just decided to go with weariness and she dumped her things and ate her food out of the container, sitting in the dark. Her mood descended further as her ex kept ringing, even though she ignored him. Despite being beyond tired, he body refused to allow her to sleep - her ex's behaviour was starting to really worry her. So in the end Rey resorted to a bottle of vodka.

'

Someone banging on her door at 1am pulled her from a dreamless sleep, she hauled herself to her feet as the banging continued and wended her way to her front door. A prickle of suspicion washed through her just before she opened it, but she pushed it down, it was obviously her shitty neighbour, again.

Only it wasn't her neighbour, it was her ex. He gave her a disgusting, drunk, sloppy grin, "Why don't you answer your phone, babe?"

Rey had to work hard not to back away from him, "Take the hint, Geoff, go away."

He frowned at her as he loomed closer, resting his meaty hands on either side of the door frame, "Don't be like that Rey, I miss you, you should come home."

_That _made her angry, and made her forget that he got physical when she mouthed off at him, "This is my fucking home now! You cheated on me! Twice! I am _done_ with you_,_ and all your shit, now fuck off and lose my number while you're at it!"

He moved his arm to push her door open further and used his other to grab her upper arm in a painful grasp.

"You don't get to speak to me like that," he hissed as he pressed her against the wall, his tone changed to wheedling as he added, "I can make you love me again, Rey, don't fight me."

Suddenly, Rey was genuinely afraid, she used her free hand to push at his chest, yelling at him, "Get off!"

His mouth on hers silenced her as he tried to kiss her, she bit his lip and he moved his hand from her arm to her throat as he pushed her further inside her flat.

She was truly panicking now, her hands futilely pulling at his thick fingers around her throat as his other hand quested up her top. "Don't fight it, babe. We used to be so good together, I can show you and you'll see. I'll make you feel good."

His mouth moved to an ear and he bit the shell of it, so hard she thought he must have drawn blood.

Rey's vision was going spotty, she brought up one of her knees to try and get him in the groin but didn't make enough contact to really hurt him, he just snarled at her and gripped her throat tighter, and she couldn't scream_... _she couldn't scream, _she couldn't scream._

Rey banged her fists on the wall behind her, as hard as she could in her weakened, dizzied state.

His wandering hand slipped inside her jeans and Rey couldn't hold in a whimper, "Shh, just relax and enjoy it," he told her in a husky voice, his breath stinking of stale beer and roll ups.

"Get your hands off her _now_."

Geoff paused to turn to the still open doorway, Rey couldn't see and didn't recognise the voice, it was menacing and dangerous_, _she knew no one like that.

"You've got the wrong idea mate, this is my girlfriend, she likes it rough," Geoff said.

"I somehow doubt that she'd go for a shit stain like you," the voice told him, "Now fuck off before the police get here. I called them a few minutes ago."

Geoff shook her like a rag doll, "You been sleeping around behind my back, Rey? You're gonna need to be punished." His fingers moved further into her underwear and Rey managed to get out a terrified squeal.

Geoff's arm was wrenched away, then his other one and he was pushed backwards as someone grabbed hold of her and pulled her out of her front door and pushed her against someone else.

But these hands were gentle on her, a voice asked her if she was okay and she managed a brief, painful nod before she lost her lights completely.

'

Rey flailed as someone shook her awake, her hands were held down and a gentle voice said, "It's okay, honey, I'm a paramedic. You're safe now, but I need to check you over. Come on sweetheart, I need you to open your eyes."

Rey opened her eyes to blink in the bright light, she didn't recognise where she was, but she couldn't see Geoff anywhere, so she allowed her muscles to relax slightly.

The blonde woman who hovered over her gave her an encouraging smile, "Can you sit up?"

Rey nodded, and the paramedic helped her up, "What...?" her voice was a painful rasp.

"Try not to talk for now, just nod yes and no while I ask you some questions, can you do that?"

Rey nodded.

"Okay, your name is Rey?" Rey nodded, "Can you remember if you hit your head at any point?" Rey shook her head, "You're ear is wounded, are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Rey nodded, "Bitten," she grated out.

The paramedic grimaced in disgust, "Okay, you up to talking to a police woman? I can stay with you?"

Rey nodded again.

Rey ended up writing out what had happened because her throat was too raw to answer questions that didn't have a yes or no answer. She still wasn't entirely certain where she was until she saw her moody neighbour across the room talking seriously to a policeman.

The paramedic kindly helped her back to her flat when the police were finished with her, "Will you be okay now? Is there anyone I can call for you?"

Rey shook her head, Finn and Poe were away for a few days and the friend who she would have called was probably the one who had given Geoff her new address, and she had no desire to see them until she was in a state to rip them a new one.

"You just need a good sleep, no work for you tomorrow either. Stick to liquids for the next few days and drink something hot with a good amount of honey in, it will soothe your throat."

Rey tried to muster a smile for the paramedic as the woman left, but she couldn't quite get there.

As the door shut, she suddenly felt afraid. She went around her flat and turned on all the lights, but there still seemed to be shadows everywhere around her.

She quickly pulled on her nightdress and dived under her duvet, but that made it worse because she wouldn't be able to see if someone was creeping up on her.

For the same reason, as soon as she put her headphones in, she had to pull them out again. Her breathing became panicky and hurt her throat as it sawed in and out. And she choked on the mouthful of vodka she tried to down as it burned her abused throat like fire.

Rey pulled on a cardigan, grabbed her keys, wrote a note and left her flat to knock on her neighbours door. He answered quickly, almost as if he had been waiting for her.

She handed him the note, he glanced at it quickly, then nodded and stood aside so she could enter. Rey's eyes spilled over and she angrily wiped the tears away with shaking hands as she walked into the living room. She froze as she realised her neighbour had guests; there were four guys sitting around with beers and holding game controllers, she went to back away but collided with her neighbours chest.

He gripped her arms gently to stop her tipping over, "It's okay. You're safe here." His voice was low and warm, somehow comforting even though she didn't know him.

Rey swallowed painfully and turned to look up at him. His expression was soft, brown eyes warm as he looked down at her. "You can sleep in my bed and I'll take the sofa."

Rey blushed, shrugging anxiously. He gave her a small smile, "Or you can sit on the sofa with us? I can get you a blanket?"

Rey gave him a small embarrassed nod. Right now she couldn't be on her own, and while these people were pretty much strangers, they had helped her and hadn't hurt her.

As her neighbour disappeared to get a blanket, his friends made room on the sofa and Rey hesitantly went and sat down.

At first she was tense, unable to sit back, but once he returned and draped a surprisingly beautiful crochet blanket over her, her body relaxed and she was fast asleep in seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Context Is King**

**'**

Kylo had vaguely noticed he had a new neighbour. It was annoying, the flat next to him had been empty for months and he had liked not having to deal with a next door neighbour.

He was less annoyed when he first saw her though, she was pretty, even with her chestnut hair simply pulled back and dressed in dirty, scruffy clothes, and he wondered what she looked like when she made an effort.

He was even more intrigued when he saw her drive away one day on a motorbike. It wasn't a moped or anything he would expect a girl to own, it was a Ducati Monster, an older model but still impressive.

**'**

_Then,_ she banged on his door one night. Kylo hated answering the door, hated being interrupted, unless it was a friend or someone delivering food. When he opened it, he found his new neighbour, glaring up at him as she politely asked him to turn his music down.

Before his brain could tell him it was a stupid thing to do, he smirked, said "No," and shut the door in her face. As soon as he'd done it, he regretted it. He was so fucking useless when it came to talking to women, and somehow he always seemed to regress to a thirteen year old.

Shit.

**'**

Kylo had resolutely forgotten about the incident, when some days later he was woken by the noise of a vacuum cleaner.

He was not a morning person, at all, and was about as happy as a badger in a sack as he pulled on yesterday's clothes and went round to bang on his neighbours door. She seemed surprised to see him when she opened it.

"What kind of person vacuums at 8am? Can't you do that later?" He asked her angrily.

"No," she said, and shut the door in his face.

He breathed carefully as he went back to his place, he supposed he had deserved that, after doing the same thing to her, but still. She looked like she ought to be the sort of person that took the moral high ground, that made overtures of friendship rather than… well, that.

**'**

The petty, sulky thirteen year old inside him, that she seemed somehow to always drag to the fore, decided to shove all his junk mail through her letter box. Part of him knew this was ridiculous, and another part rather hoped that she would come and tell him off again. To his disappointment, she didn't seem to even notice, and he eventually got bored and gave up.

**'**

The next time he saw her properly, was in the early evening, he was tired, had had a shitty day with his parents and wanted to get home so he could sit down and have a beer in peace.

As he crossed the lobby, he heard someone enter behind him and call to him to hold to lift. He sped up so he could get in the lift on his own, not wanting to share the small space with anyone else right now.

As he turned and pushed the button for his floor, he realised it had been his new pretty neighbour and he tried giving her an apologetic smile as the doors closed.

It must have come out wrong, though, because her expression became furious. But it was too late to stop the doors and he was too socially awkward to go back down and apologise.

**'**

Then he noticed one of his car tyres was a bit flat and he took it to a petrol station to pump it up. The next day it was down again, so he went back and pumped it up… after several days of this he suspected foul play.

Zainmar hadn't been over and she was a mechanic or something similar, so she knew all about cars…

After banging on her door, (perhaps a little too aggressively), she answered.

"What the fuck did you do to my car?" he asked immediately, then inwardly winced, he hadn't meant to say it quite like that.

She gave him a look like butter wouldn't melt and asked calmly, "Do? Why, is there something wrong with it?"

He could see she was trying not to laugh, her bright hazel eyes gave her away. She looked stupidly cute, still in her work clothes with a smudge of dirt on her lightly freckled cheek.

Kylo growled in frustration, trying to get his brain to focus, "You've done something, the fucking tyre keeps going down, I know it was you, and you better fix it. Now." _God, he needed to stop swearing at her._

"I don't know what you are talking about. If you think something is wrong with it, you should take it to a garage."

He couldn't stop himself glaring at that, "You're a mechanic, so you can look at it." _Why didn't he phrase it as a request? What the hell was wrong with him?_

She tilted her head, looking alarmingly like his mother as she told him tartly, "I can, but I won't. I only do favours for friends or people who ask me _nicely._"

He was furiously trying to think of a response that would defuse the situation but she shut the door in his face.  
'

Kylo started smoking again. He was sleeping badly and work was especially stressful, and the girl next door was slowly driving him crazy... _Why wasn't he able to just fucking talk to her?_

**'**

Zainmar and Leonmar came over on Saturday to cheer him up. They had some beers, played some games and he and Leonmar had gone out onto the balcony to smoke.

That was when Kylo noticed his neighbour lying on her stomach on her balcony, wearing a very small black bikini. _And holy shit did she look good._

Leonmar noticed the direction of his gaze and turned to look too, letting out a long low whistle, "That the girl who's been driving you up the wall? I can see why."

Kylo just nodded, finding it hard to look away, she had headphones in and seemed oblivious to their presence.

Zainmar joined them and grinned, "Hey, I have water balloons in my bag. We should totally throw one at her!"

Leonmar shook his head, "Bad idea. You'll just piss her off… and why the hell are you carrying water balloons, Zain?"

Zainmar shrugged, "I used to be in the scouts," he threw them a salute, "Be prepared! And anyway, you totally should get her back for the car thing."

"I'm not sure," Kylo said doubtfully.

"It would get her to talk to you," Zainmar pushed.

The beer (and Kylo's inability to talk to a girl normally) won, Leonmar shook his head and stayed inside as Kylo and Zainmar filled a balloon and took it back out with them.

Just as he was about to throw, Kylo hesitated, his common sense getting the better of him, but Zainmar grabbed it off him and threw it anyway.

It was a direct hit. Oh shit. Kylo was already fighting back a nervous laugh as she squealed and sprang to her feet, expression incredulous.

"Oh! Sorry, we were having a water fight and got carried away," Kylo blurted, as Zainmar grinned beside him. She looked amazing from the front, toned and utterly stunning, and he felt his lips pull up in a grin despite himself.

"Then maybe you should play downstairs with the _other children_," came her icey reply as she gathered her things and disappeared into her flat.

"Not much of a sense of humour," Zainmar observed, "But when you are that fine, I guess it doesn't matter much."

Leonmar poked his head out of the door, "I told you it was a bad idea Kylo, you should never take advice from Zainmar, about anything."

Zainmar made an indignant sound and threw an extra water balloon he had made, Leonmar ducked just in time. Kylo wondered if he had just made a terrible mistake.

He pushed the feeling down and tried to ignore the tantalising smell of something chocolaty baking that drifted out of her open back door, he wondered if she were doing that on purpose.

He, Leonmar and Zainmar were later joined by Ingalan and Javiell and they hung out all evening.

Every time he went outside to smoke he couldn't help a little flare of jealousy as he listened to her spend her evening with the annoying gay guys on the other side of her.

**'**

It was about midnight when there was a banging on his front door, which immediately set Zainmar off laughing.

"What?" Kylo asked him suspiciously.

"That's probably your hot neighbour, I put olive oil on her door handle. You're welcome."

Kylo groaned but couldn't help smirking at the same time as he went to answer the door.

As soon as he opened it, she was on the offensive, "_You!_" she almost yelled as she wiped her oily hands on his t-shirt, "You are a massive land based tool!"

That little point of contact set his heart racing, and he couldn't help grinning down at her, "Are you drunk?"

She poked him hard in the chest as she said defiantly, "Maybe. That is not the point! You either clean my door, or I am sleeping on your sofa!"

He stayed as cool as he could and pulled the door fully open as he pressed himself against it, her confused frown was utterly adorable, "Come in then."

She blinked at him, puzzlement replacing her righteous indignation, "What?" There was a little slur to her voice he noticed.

He shrugged, "You said you were going to sleep on my sofa."

"I didn't mean..!" she paused and cocked her head then said, "_Fine_," and walked past him.

Kylo blinked and grinned to himself as he shut the door before following her.

But when he entered the living room, he saw to his alarm that she was out on the balcony, moving a chair to the partition, "_Shit!"_

He ran out there and grabbed hold of her before she could plummet over the side, _five stories down._ She wriggled as he pulled her off the chair and back onto the floor of the balcony. "Do you have a fucking death wish?" he asked as his heart beat in his throat while he held onto her.

She made an exasperated noise, "I was fine, let me go! Look - my window is open."

Kylo could see that it wasn't. He snorted, "You are drunk, there is no way I am letting you climb over that!"

She turned in his grasp till she was facing him, the furious glare she levelled at him somehow sexy.

She poked him in the chest again, "Take your hands off me, you giant shit biscuit!" The command lost its gravity with the slur to the words and the ridiculous insult.

Kylo smiled down at her, then winced as her small (but hard) fist connected with his stomach and her booted foot came down on his instep.

He let go of her in surprise as he grunted and somehow she was out of his reach and over the partition before he could catch her again. He heard delighted laughter coming from his living room as he watched her fumble about her balcony.

"Jesus, woman, you are crazy!"

Without missing a beat she shot back "And you're a muscle bound cretin!"

Then she managed to open her door and practically fell through it. He paused, just in case she had hurt herself but the door shut behind her and he didn't hear any noise to indicate she had taken any harm.

**'**

Kylo and the other's woke up late with hangovers, not bad ones, but the sort when you just can't be arsed to do anything, or move much.

He did, however manage to shove a load of washing in the machine and hang it out on the balcony, after that he decided his Sunday productivity quota was met.

They were just all trying to decide what to eat for a late lunch when his doorbell buzzed. Like some kind of godsend or fairy godmother, it was a pizza delivery guy.

When he answered the door the man presented him with two pizzas, coke, wings and a tub of ice cream. Kylo happily paid and they all dug in, not bothering to question where it came from at that point. They had to sub in some dips and chips and some other things as there were five of them, but they were all super happy about it.

"So who was this then? Did one of you just order?" Leonmar asked.

Everyone shook their heads. Kylo frowned, "Who then?"

"Could it be the girl next door?" Javiell asked, "Maybe to apologise for shouting at you?"

Ingalan snorted, "If it was her, she wasn't saying thank you, don't forget she only shouted at Kylo because Zain covered her doorknob in cooking oil."

Zainmar rolled his eyes, "If she thought that would annoy him, she doesn't understand how men work. Surprise pizza is always a win, if you ask me."

"You should go round and say thank you," Ingalan said, "It may make her warm up to you or at least own up to it."

Kylo chewed his lip, then nodded and before he could lose his nerve he went round and knocked on her door. But there was no answer and the windows were closed, after peering down at the car park, he could see her motorbike wasn't there.

"She wasn't in," he told the others as he walked back into the living room.

"So go back later or write a note and put it through her door," Leonmar said.

"If you write a note, the ball is in her court and it doesn't make you look pushy," Ingalan added.

Kylo shrugged and found some paper, writing should be easier than just knocking on her door, right? … "What should I say?" he asked, after staring at the paper for several minutes.

Ingalan rolled his eyes, "Just say thank you, do it, don't think about it!"

After a little more deliberating Kylo carefully wrote,

_**Thanks for the pizza, it was just what we needed!**_

Then quickly went to her door and shoved it through her letter box before he could change his mind. He didn't see her for the rest of the day.  
'

After the others had gone home in the later afternoon, Kylo was confused to find that every piece of his washing had small marks of discolouration. At first, he had thought it was bird crap, but on closer inspection, it was as if everything had somehow got marked with spots of bleach.

It was really weird. He went on Amazon to order some black washing machine dye, hopefully that would sort it all out, but maybe he wouldn't put washing out on the balcony for a while.

**'**

The next day some cretin buzzed his doorbell at 7.30am, he'd had a vague idea that it was the dye from Amazon, so he had got up to answer it, but no one was there. He went back to bed, but was too irritated to get back to sleep.

**'**

He then had a shitty day, and somehow his car had started smelling strongly of fish, though he couldn't figure out why… but he really didn't feel like taking it to a garage, he was fairly certain he would just get laughed at, a lot.

The guys came round for dinner again - the rest of them still lived at home, so his flat tended to be where they mostly hung out. Kylo liked it that way, he'd always got on better with his friends than his family, they were more like brothers than friends.

When they arrived he took them down to see if it was just him that could smell the fish, (because he was slightly concerned he was going mad).

But he wasn't, and after a few minutes of puzzlement and then arguing, Javiell popped the bonnet and poked around, then produced a rotting piece of fish. "There's your culprit," he said as he waved it at Zainmar who almost squealed in distaste, much to everyone else's amusement.

Kylo frowned, "But how did it get in there?"

Ingalan clapped him on the shoulder, "I think you'll find that was your girl next door… pretty ingenious though, you must admit."

Kylo felt a wave of irritation and confusion, "But why?"

Javiell threw the fish away, "Probably in return for the oiled doorknob?"

Zainmar shook his head, "No, that was what the pizza was for, surely?"

Leonmar lit a cigarette and Kylo joined him, "Well, I guess she did both, then?"

"Well that's not fair, "Zainmar insisted.

"You're an idiot, Zain," Ingalan told the other guy fondly.

Kylo rubbed his eyes, his frustration with not being able to talk to his neighbour was really getting to him, "You guys want to go to the gym before dinner?"

**'**

Halfway through their session, Zainmar admitted to shoving a rubber snake through next doors letter box. Kylo dropped his face into his hands and groaned.

**'**

They picked up Thai on their way back to Kylo's and settled down to game, it was a Monday night but no one seemed inclined to leave, which was fine with Kylo as he went to bed late anyway.

**'**

They were disturbed by banging just after 1am, Kylo paused the game and the all sat still, frowns on their faces as they tried to work out whether that had been on Kylo's door or someone else's.

After a moment, Kylo got up and walked to his door, he couldn't see anyone waiting outside it, and was just walking back to the living room when he heard more banging, and he was sure it was coming from next door…

He didn't know why, but he felt worried and decided to check to make sure his neighbour was okay - she could just be drunk again, but it wouldn't take long to confirm.

"I'm just going to check that out," he called behind him as he went back to the front door, Zainmar followed, (probably hoping she had freaked out over the snake).

As Kylo opened the front door, he could hear a deep male voice coming from his neighbours.

Kylo thought he could hear sounds of movement, then came a small, frightened whimper, and his alarm intensified, "Zain? Go get the others and call the police," he said softly, then he walked carefully along to her front door, it was open.

"Shh, just relax and enjoy it," a husky male voice said and Kylo's blood ran cold.

There was a man in the doorway, holding his neighbour by the throat while his other hand…

"Get your hands off her _now_," Kylo said, allowing himself to let the violence he always kept hidden inside to leak into his voice.

The man turned to look at Kylo, giving him what he probably thought was a bloke-to-bloke-friendly-yet-warning-you-off-my-bird sort of smile as he said, "You've got the wrong idea mate, this is my girlfriend, she likes it rough."

Kylo's lip curled in disgust, "I somehow doubt that she'd go for a shit stain like you," he said as he looked the guy up and down, "Now fuck off before the police get here. I called them a few minutes ago."  
Rather letting go, the cretin, who was clearly wasted, shook the girl by her throat as if she weighed nothing, "You been sleeping around behind my back, Rey? You're gonna need to be punished."

_Rey? Her name was Rey? It suited her_, Kylo blinked as Rey made a terrified sound and he realised the man's hand had gone further insude her jeans.

Kylo was moving before he realised what he was doing, and he wrenched the man's hand out of her jeans, punched him in the kidney and pulled the other hand away from her throat whilst pushing the man backwards down the hall.

Kylo caught Rey before she fell and pulled her with him out of the door and into Zainmar's waiting hands.

Just in time, because the guy was back on his feet and really, really, angry, he made a sloppy lunge at Kylo but his punch went wide as Kylo ducked it and came back with his own, connecting with his nose, he added an uppercut and a hard kick to the stomach.

The man fell onto his back and didn't get back up; Ingalan had to pull Kylo away or he would have continued.

"That's enough, Kylo. He's staying down, you need to leave him for the police now, they're on their way."

Kylo nodded curtly as he tried to calm his breathing down, adrenaline buzzing in his veins, "Is she okay?"

"She passed out, she's on your sofa, Zain's watching her. I think it may be best if we drag him out of her flat and shut the door."

Kylo shook his head, "We don't know where her keys are, and we probably should wait till the police get here before we move him… Just in case I did more damage that I meant to."

Javiell snorted, "You meant to do plenty, and did less, and he deserved _more, _but he isn't worth going to prison for, either."

**'**

The police arrived along with paramedics, who, to Kylo's amusement, gave only a cursory look at the man passed out in Rey's hall, then spent the rest of the time with Rey.

Kylo and the others made their statements and the man was roused, cuffed and taken away, yelling his innocence. No one listened to him.

Kylo had to swallowed his anger everytime he looked at Rey. Her throat was covered in bruises that only seemed to grow darker as time went on, it was so bad she could barely talk.

_What if he had been out? What if he hadn't heard or investigated?_ _She was so small, so delicate looking._

Once Rey had been checked and pronounced well enough not to need hospital, the police took her statement, then she was helped back to her flat.

Kylo wasn't happy about that, he didn't think she ought to be alone right now, but he couldn't really stop them.

Once the police had gone, he and the others sat down and passed around some whiskey.

"Well that was a shitty few hours," Leonmar said and Kylo nodded before disappearing on to the balcony to smoke several cigarettes in a row.

His mind kept replaying the image of Rey pressed against the wall, caught by the throat and with that shit head's hand down… Kylo shuddered.

**'**

They had changed to beer and started gaming again when there was a knock on the front door.

Kylo, who hadn't really been able to concentrate on the game, shot out of his seat and moved quickly to answer the door.

And there she stood, _Rey._ She was wrapped in a cardigan, her long legs bare up to mid-thigh where a blue nightdress peeked out of the cardigan.

Her eyes were huge in her face as she awkwardly handed him a note with a trembling hand,

_**Sorry, but please could I sleep on your sofa? I'm freaking out and can't stay in my flat tonight.**_

Kylo felt his face soften as he nodded immediately and stood aside so she could enter, he saw tears spill over as she passed him, but she quickly wiped them away.

He caught up to her as she froze in the doorway to the living room, obviously startled to find he wasn't alone, she turned and ran into his chest, he gently held her arms in case she fell over - as he could see she was none too steady on her feet, "It's okay. You're safe here," he told her.

She winced as she swallowed, looking up at him with nervous eyes, for some reason, _now _he was able to talk to her normally, "You can sleep in my bed and I'll take the sofa."

Her cheeked coloured and she gave him an anxious shrug, almost looking afraid, _maybe she didn't want to be alone at all?_ He gave her a small, encouraging smile, "Or you can sit on the sofa with us? I can get you a blanket?"

The idea seemed to embarrass her, but she nodded anyway and Kylo gave her a little push towards the sofa before going into his bedroom to find a blanket. He found one his grandmother had made for him when he was small, it was soft and warm and would be perfect.

He found her sitting between Ingalan and Leonmar, she was obviously tense and uncomfortable, but she didn't move or flinch as he awkwardly draped the blanket over her.

It had the soothing effect he'd hoped, her body relaxed back into the sofa, and almost immediately, she was asleep.

The others stayed for a little while after that, but it was really late and they soon left. Kylo was unsure what to do now.

_Did he just go to bed? Or sit on the sofa with her? She hadn't seemed to want to be left alone, but she may freak out if she woke to find him next to her…_

In the end he settled on the sofa with her, but remained fully clothed and got another blanket so they wouldn't have to share, he also left a small lamp on, in case she woke up and it was still dark, then he fell into an exhausted asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Pax**

**'**

Rey awoke slowly, her aching throat was horribly painful and she tried to will her body back to the sweet oblivion of sleep.

It didn't seem to work, but then she wondered if she were actually dreaming because she was cuddled up against someone warm. There was arm arm wrapped around her, the hold was firm but comforting and she realised her head was on their chest and that's why she was moving slightly - it was as they breathed.

Rey decided this was nice and snuggled in closer. They shifted, made a small satisfied noise and pulled her upwards a little, into the circle of their arms as they wrapped them both around her. Yes, this was where she wanted to be, she thought as she drifted back to sleep.

**~'*'~**

When Kylo woke, he found Rey in his arms, sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face. His breath caught, the weight of her on him was perfect, the feel of her body wrapped safely in his arms made him swallow. He blushed furiously as his body started to respond, this was really not the time. It was, in fact, the worst time.

He tried to will his erection away by imagining his irritating co-worker Hux dancing around in a bikini, it wasn't pleasant, but it helped.

_What should he do? Should he wake her? Should he get up, but leave her sleeping?_ He couldn't see the clock from here, but by the light coming through the curtains, and his growling stomach, it was well into the morning.

_He could get up and make her breakfast, but then she may not be able to swallow anything yet… there was ice cream in the freezer, that could work. Not the most nutritious of breakfasts, but that probably didn't matter after the night she'd had._

He gazed down at her as his tried to decide what he should do. Even bruised, with messy hair she was pretty, or more like stunning, he thought as he watched her. There was just something about her that drew him to her, as if she were the sun and he a plant… _he sounded like such a prat._

He liked her name, was glad he had finally learned it, though he would have been happier if it had been under different circumstances.

Still, hopefully she wouldn't freak out waking up with him there… _shit, she would, she'd think he was creepy and should have slept elsewhere. This was weird, he should get up now. _He shifted, letting go of her as he tried to slowly slide off the sofa, but her arms started reaching for him and she sleepily opened her eyes. Kylo froze.

**~'*'~**

For a moment after opening her eyes, Rey was a little confused. She recognised that it was her neighbour she was cuddled up against, and yet, if felt oddly normal. Almost as if they had done this before.

_Which was odd, because __**a:**_ _he had been a dick since she moved in and __**b:**_ _she didn't even know his name and __**c:**_ _he currently looked terrified._

"Hi," she rasped, wincing at the pain that caused, before giving him a small smile.

She only realised he'd been holding his breath when he started breathing again.

"Err, hi," he said awkwardly, "Do you want some ice cream?" Rey frowned and he hurried on, "For breakfast. I mean, if you want. Cos, it might help your throat. And maybe you're hungry. I don't know the time."

Rey almost laughed, he was rather sweet, and, on closer inspection, really quite striking to look at… and very good at cuddling. _She had missed cuddling._

"Coffee first?" She rasped hopefully, her head was beginning to ache now she was awake and she needed to try and swallow some decent pain killers for her throat.

He nodded, his full lips curving just the tiniest bit. "Name?" Rey asked, still unable to speak much.

Now he did smile, which sent him from striking to incredibly sexy, "Kylo," he said.

Rey couldn't reconcile this guy to the one who had been winding her up since she moved here, she mentally shrugged it off, _think about that later._

She suddenly realised he needed her to get up before he could and sat up awkwardly, a warm hand gently helping push her the last bit till she was upright.

He, _Kylo,_ sat up easily, threw her a quick, shy smile and got up to go into the kitchen. Rey pulled the blankets off her and folded them up neatly then wrapped her cardigan around her more securely, she had forgotten she was just in a nightdress. Kylo was still fully clothed, just sans shoes.

His flat was very minimalistic, or perhaps bachelor pad, depending on how you look at things, everything was white, black, red or grey. Apart from the two blankets, incongruous in their lively colours and patterns.

Soon the smell of coffee wafted to her and her mouth watered, "Milk or cream and would you like sugar?" He had a nice voice, deep and slightly rough.

"Cream if that's okay? No sugar," he nodded and went back into the kitchen.

_Cream in coffee? He may be her new favourite person… though considering what happened last night, he already was._ Rey shuddered slightly, trying not to think of what would have happened if he hadn't interrupted Geoff. _It may be a good idea to look into a restraining order. Or move._ Rey frowned, she really didn't want to move, she liked it here, and it looked like the difficulties with her neighbour may be over…

**~'*'~**

Rey smiled at him as he handed her the coffee, closing her eyes briefly as she breathed in the aroma before taking a sip. She winced.

"Is it too strong?" Kylo asked, trying not to sound too anxious.

She shook her head, flashing him a small smile as she gestured to her bruised throat. _He was such an idiot, of course it would hurt her to swallow anything._

"How are you feeling after…" he trailed off, unsure how to word the next part of that sentence.

Rey's face fell somewhat and she gave a little shrug, then looked frustrated.

Kylo remembered he had shoved a small pad of paper in his pocket and had forgotten to give it to her. He handed it over now, with a pen. Rey smiled again and carefully put her put her coffee down so she could write.

**'_I'm okay, throat is hurting like a bitch and my ear still stings but otherwise not too bad considering. Thank you, by the way. For helping, for letting me sleep here. I hope he didn't hurt you.'_**

Kylo frowned, "He didn't, I knocked him out. But why is your ear hurting?"

Rey grinned widely at that, and Kylo almost died a little as she scribbled another note,

**'_You knocked him out? That is the best thing I've heard all year. He bit through my ear, before you came."_**

Kylo felt his lip curl, "Who was he? He said he was your boyfriend but I couldn't quite believe that."

Rey gave him a chagrined look,

**'_He isn't now, but he was. We lived together for almost two years. I make bad life choices.'_**

Kylo could not wrap his head around the idea of _her_ being with a guy like _that. _"Bad life choices maybe, but that doesn't excuse what he did… You can, you can always come here if you are worried about him. And we could put a notice on the board downstairs asking everyone not to buzz him into the building if he comes back."

Kylo suddenly realised he'd said _we_ instead of _you_ and winced inwardly as she started writing again.

**'_Thanks, that's a good idea… Oh, by the way, did you want your rubber snake back?'_**

Kylo frowned in confusion then rolled his eyes as he remembered, "That wasn't me, that was one of my friends, he also oiled your door handle and threw the water balloon. He is a massive child, sorry… Do I assume correctly that it was you who put a fish in my car?"

Her cheeks flushed a little at that.

**"_Yeah. Sorry, I may have overdone it there.'_**

Kylo shrugged and smiled, "No worries… pax?"

Rey smiled at him, then frowned and wrote another note,

**'_I need to go and find my phone so I can text my work to let them know I'm not coming in today, and I must be keeping you from yours?'_**

Kylo shrugged, "I work for my dad, who always gets up late, he probably hasn't even noticed I'm not there." That wasn't strictly true, but he really didn't want to leave while he was able to talk to her; because he may have lost the ability by the time he saw her next.

Rey smiled slightly, then finished her coffee and stood, Kylo followed her and she suddenly looked a little awkward. _Should he have stayed sitting?_ Then his brain short circuited when she leaned in and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, Kylo," she whispered into his chest and his heart did an arrhythmic stutter at the sound of her saying his name.

He put his arms around her lightly, "Anytime, Rey… that is, I hope it doesn't happen again, but if it did, I'd do it again. Help you, that is…" he trailed off, _was she suppressing a laugh?_

When she leaned away she was smiling slightly, before he could chicken out, before he let her go and it all went horribly wrong again he asked, "Err, could I take you out sometime, maybe, if you want to? For dinner?"

Rey blinked up at him, he was just starting to mentally self flagellate, when she whispered, "Okay."

And he couldn't help grinning down at her.


End file.
